World Renew prepares response to 'Epic' Super-Storm Sandy

Organization is preparing to launch an initial response

BY WORLD RENEW |
October 30, 2012

News reports are mainly concentrating on major urban areas like New York and Atlantic City right now, but there are thousands of other coastal communities affected by Sandy’s wind, rain, and flooding that need help.

Bill Adams, World Renew’s Director of Disaster Response Services

As Hurricane Sandy blows inland today, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, now known as World Renew, is preparing to launch an initial response in hard-hit areas in New York, New Jersey, and other northeastern states.

“World Renew is working in partnership with Reformed Church World Service (RCWS) to get rapid responders into affected areas to clear trees, cover roofs, and check on isolated and vulnerable residents,” says Bill Adams, World Renew’s Director of Disaster Response Services (DRS). “News reports are mainly concentrating on major urban areas like New York and Atlantic City right now, but there are thousands of other coastal communities affected by Sandy’s wind, rain, and flooding that need help.”

Adams added that the organization is in contact with many congregations in States across the East Coast that are connected to the Reformed and Christian Reformed denominations--and in communities affected by Sandy. “We are in the process of contacting pastors and churches in areas that are experiencing power outages and infrastructure failures that could last days or possibly weeks,” Adams said.

World Renew volunteers are already at work in Schoharie, New York, where Hurricane Irene dumped a foot of rain in less than 24 hours in August, 2011, and flooded homes and businesses throughout the community. Irene was one of a dozen storms that did $1 billion or more in damage across the United States last year. World Renew focuses on making long-term commitments to communities like Schoharie whose residents continue to struggle to recover from a disaster weeks, months, or years after it occurred.

World Renew anticipates launching a similar response to Sandy, starting in the next few days, as responders are able to enter the affected areas. Rapid Response Teams and regional managers are on-hold in relief staging areas with tarps, chainsaws, and tractor to clear felled trees and cover damaged roofs.

World Renew is appealing for funds to respond to Hurricane Sandy. World Renew DRS depends on financial donations to support its volunteers in disaster response in North America. World Renew assisted thousands of survivors after the terrorist attack in New York on 9/11, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the Alabama super-cell tornadoes in April, 2011.

World Renew is also responding through its International Disaster Response and Rehabilitation program to Hurricane Sandy damage in Haiti. More than 60 people in the Caribbean were killed even before Sandy reached the Florida coast last week.

About World Renew DRS

World Renew, a Christian non-profit organization with 40 years of experience in disaster response, works collaboratively with government and voluntary organizations in low-income communities in North America that have been affected by disasters like Sandy.

World Renew deploys thousands of volunteers each year to help elderly, disabled, and indigent disaster survivors who are without insurance, beyond government aid, or otherwise unable to recover from a disaster on their own. Last year, thousands of World Renew volunteers assisted more than 110,000 residents in the U.S. and Canada with clean-up, assessment, repair, and reconstruction services after tornadoes, floods, fires, and hurricanes, giving more than a quarter-million volunteer hours to this work.

Members of the Press wishing to arrange an interview with Bill Adams, call cell 616-560-2872, or call Beth De Graff at cell 616-648-7821.

Financial donations can be given online at www.worldrenew.net/donate. Or give by charge card at 1-800-552-7972 in the U.S. or 1-800-730-3490 in Canada. By mail in the U.S., send checks made out to World Renew and designated, “Hurricanes 2012,” to: World Renew, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49560-0600. In Canada, mail checks to: World Renew, 3475 Mainway, STN LCD 1, Burlington, ON, L7R 3Y8.